How to fix ArgoCD degraded in Kubernetes

View detailed health status in the ArgoCD UI or CLI:

argocd app get <app-name>

Or in the web UI, navigate to Applications and click the degraded app. Look for the "Resources" tab showing each resource's health status. Identify which specific resource(s) are degraded (shown in red).

Check the degraded resource directly:

kubectl describe pod <pod-name> -n <namespace>
kubectl describe deployment <deployment-name> -n <namespace>
kubectl get <resource-type> -n <namespace> -o wide

Look for:
- "Ready" column (replicas ready vs desired)
- "Status" field showing Pending, CrashLoopBackOff, or Error
- Events section with error messages or warnings

Check logs from the failing pod:

kubectl logs <pod-name> -n <namespace>
kubectl logs <pod-name> -n <namespace> --previous  # For crashed containers
kubectl logs <pod-name> -c <container-name> -n <namespace>  # Specific container

Look for:
- Stack traces or error messages
- Connection failures to dependencies
- Configuration errors
- Probe failures

Get detailed events and probe configuration:

kubectl describe pod <pod-name> -n <namespace>
# Look at "Events" section and "Readiness" / "Liveness" rows

# View probe configuration
kubectl get pod <pod-name> -o yaml | grep -A 10 "readinessProbe\|livenessProbe"

If probes are failing, they may be misconfigured (wrong port, path, threshold) or the app needs more time to initialize. Consider adding a startupProbe.

Check for missing ConfigMaps, Secrets, PersistentVolumes:

kubectl describe pod <pod-name> -n <namespace> | grep -A 20 "Mounts\|Volumes"
kubectl get configmap,secret -n <namespace> -o wide
kubectl get pv,pvc -n <namespace>

If volumes are not mounting or configs are missing, create them:

kubectl create configmap app-config --from-file=config.yaml -n <namespace>

HorizontalPodAutoscaler can cause temporary degradation:

kubectl get hpa -n <namespace>
kubectl describe hpa <hpa-name> -n <namespace>

When HPA scales up, new replicas take time to become ready. ArgoCD may mark the app degraded until all new replicas pass health checks. This usually resolves automatically. To reduce false positives, add a startup probe or adjust HPA scaling policies.

Once you've fixed the underlying resource issue (restarted pod, increased resource limits, fixed config), re-sync the application:

argocd app sync <app-name>
argocd app wait <app-name>  # Wait for healthy status

Or use the web UI: click the app > "SYNC" button. Monitor the Resources tab until all turn green.